Akagera, Rwanda

It's been 10 days and they've flown by!  Half way through my stay here.
Noah has been all absorbing, great fun. He is learning fast and is engaging. He is really showing some of his character as it's not just eat and sleep these days. He is active and inquiring as he explores, and pushes boundaries.  I am loving being grandpa but I have also enjoyed getting out and about.

After several boat trips and game drives I feel more confident on bird names and calls.  Akagera has some 480 species and so far this trip I can only identify less than 100 with help!
The Park is drying up a bit at this time of year and early burning is due to start soon to avoid those later, hot fires.  We did a 12 hour game drive to the north and back the other day and saw everything from elephant shrews to giraffe, eland, roan, topi and even an elephant. It was hot and dusty and very bumpy. Today I did the same trip in a helicopter in only an hour and we went further. It was stunning to fly low, around a small herd of elephant, skim over the backs of a herd of buffalo and slow to count giraffe before climbing out of the low plains and slip over the rocky ridges. The countless lakes, papyrus beds and plains and rolling hills with their own specific vegetation types, just left me speechless. I had no door and at times did not know where to point the camera, through my feet almost, or on the simmering hazy horizon.

With just 10 days to go until Malawi, I have many little jobs around the house I promised to do and as yet, they remain unstarted.
Photos to follow

Sydney

The last few weeks have been different as I prepared to leave home and country. I know I have felt a little numb, a little subdued even. It's as though I'm on a conveyor belt of time facing the inevitable drop off point from which I fall into a new time zone beyond which I could not easily imagine what lay ahead. My future looked like a series of imagined pictures and places and of plans that were hard to visualise.
There is both the excitement of facing uncertainty and regret at leaving the security of the known.   People asked, "Are you excited?" and yes, to some extent I was excited, but with caution and just a twinge of sadness at leaving the familiar.
Arriving to stay with my brother in Sydney in the middle of a photo shoot for his summer catalog was a great distraction.  www.jasminehall.com.au have a great range of bed linen, cushions, throws and bed covers etc.

The fight out is tomorrow. Now I'm excited.  These few days in Sydney with family has been wonderful but it's time to go!

Tiramisu

On the eve of my departure, a practice blog while eating Tiramisu with Vanessa and Alison. Thanks for suggesting I restart my old blog. It will certainly be a way of disseminating news. Watch this space, as they say......